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Central and Eastern Europe

Orthodox youths pose by their looms in a weaving school connected to a yeshiva.

Sighet, Romania, 1920s.

Since World War I, JDC has worked in Eastern Europe. Wartime emergency food and medical care evolved into the reestablishment and initiation of Jewish communal institutions including orphanages and child care agencies, health care services, Jewish schools, and vocational training programs during the postwar and interwar years. With the outbreak of World War II, JDC work continued until the U.S. entry into the war, after which, unable to continue its in-country presence, JDC sought other avenues to reach the needy. During the Communist era, JDC provided relief services to the extent possible but was expelled from various countries at different times and later invited to resume operations. Since the end of the Communist era, JDC has worked to assist Holocaust survivors and to develop Jewish renewal programs.

Exhibit

Everything Possible:
JDC and the Children of the DP Camps

Featuring historic photographs from the JDC Archives, focuses on JDC’s significant efforts on behalf of children in the displaced persons camps established by the Allied Armed Forces after World War II. JDC was permitted to enter the camps to supplement minimal provisions with critical nutritional, medical, educational, and religious services for survivors.

News and Articles
JDC Archives Virtual Programs: Spring 2024

JDC Archives Virtual Programs: Spring 2024

Anna Sommer Schneider Lectures on Yiddishkeit and JDC’s Support for Jewish Education in Communist Poland

Anna Sommer Schneider Lectures on Yiddishkeit and JDC’s Support for Jewish Education in Communist Poland

2023 JDC Archives Fellows Announced

2023 JDC Archives Fellows Announced

Jonathan Sarna Lectures on the Transformation of JDC into a Permanent Organization

Jonathan Sarna Lectures on the Transformation of JDC into a Permanent Organization

Merry Fitzpatrick Lectures on Heroic Medical Research from the Warsaw Ghetto: Preserving a JDC Legacy

Merry Fitzpatrick Lectures on Heroic Medical Research from the Warsaw Ghetto: Preserving a JDC Legacy

Ethell Gershengorin Lectures on The JDC’s Activities on Behalf of Eastern European Jewish Children, 1919-1929

Ethell Gershengorin Lectures on The JDC’s Activities on Behalf of Eastern European Jewish Children, 1919-1929

JDC Archives Virtual Programs: Winter-Spring 2023

JDC Archives Virtual Programs: Winter-Spring 2023

Records of JDC Postwar Czechoslovakia Offices Now Available

Records of JDC Postwar Czechoslovakia Offices Now Available

Jewish History Seen through the JDC Prism

Jewish History Seen through the JDC Prism

Jonathan Zisook Lectures on “Passover for the Passed Over”: Jewish Religious Life in Poland after 1968

Jonathan Zisook Lectures on “Passover for the Passed Over”: Jewish Religious Life in Poland after 1968

JDC Archives Virtual Programs: Spring–Summer 2022

JDC Archives Virtual Programs: Spring–Summer 2022

JDC Archives Public Program Series Highlights Jewish Women in Turbulent Times

JDC Archives Public Program Series Highlights Jewish Women in Turbulent Times

Juliet Golden Lectures on Sara-Zofia Syrkin-Binsztejnowa

Juliet Golden Lectures on Sara-Zofia Syrkin-Binsztejnowa

JDC Archives Virtual Programs: Winter–Spring 2022

JDC Archives Virtual Programs: Winter–Spring 2022

The Art of Documenting JDC Assistance

The Art of Documenting JDC Assistance

JDC Emigration Service Cards of 1960s Czech Refugees Added to Names Index

JDC Emigration Service Cards of 1960s Czech Refugees Added to Names Index

A JDC Archives Fellow Discusses Her Research on Jewish Life in 1950s Poland

A JDC Archives Fellow Discusses Her Research on Jewish Life in 1950s Poland

Vast New York 1975-1989 Collection Now Digitized

Vast New York 1975-1989 Collection Now Digitized

Frankee Lyons Lectures on the JDC in Post-Stalinist Poland, 1957-1960s

Frankee Lyons Lectures on the JDC in Post-Stalinist Poland, 1957-1960s

Dóra Pataricza Lectures on the Joint’s Activity in Szeged in the Aftermath of the Holocaust

Dóra Pataricza Lectures on the Joint’s Activity in Szeged in the Aftermath of the Holocaust

Backdrop to Rescue

Backdrop to Rescue

New Book—From Left to Right: Lucy S. Dawidowicz, the New York Intellectuals, and the Politics of Jewish History

New Book—From Left to Right: Lucy S. Dawidowicz, the New York Intellectuals, and the Politics of Jewish History

Avinoam Patt Lectures on the Jewish Heroes of Warsaw

Avinoam Patt Lectures on the Jewish Heroes of Warsaw

JDC Archives Virtual Programs: Spring-Summer 2021

JDC Archives Virtual Programs: Spring-Summer 2021

JDC Archives Virtual Programs: Winter-Spring 2021

JDC Archives Virtual Programs: Winter-Spring 2021

Panel on JDC’s Work in Poland at 2020 Association for Jewish Studies Virtual Conference

Panel on JDC’s Work in Poland at 2020 Association for Jewish Studies Virtual Conference

JDC Archives Shares Zbąszyń Refugees List with JRI-Poland

JDC Archives Shares Zbąszyń Refugees List with JRI-Poland

JDC Geneva 1955-1964 Collection Now Digitized

JDC Geneva 1955-1964 Collection Now Digitized

Interning, COVID-19 style

Interning, COVID-19 style

An Illuminated Manuscript

An Illuminated Manuscript

Index of AJDC Prague Office Emigration Case Files Now Available

Index of AJDC Prague Office Emigration Case Files Now Available

JDC during the Time of the Spanish Flu (1918–1920)

JDC during the Time of the Spanish Flu (1918–1920)

Jan Láníček Lectures on “Sardines to the Ghettos”: Relief Food Parcels for Jews in Occupied Europe during the Second World War

Jan Láníček Lectures on “Sardines to the Ghettos”: Relief Food Parcels for Jews in Occupied Europe during the Second World War

Snapshots of a Forgotten World

Snapshots of a Forgotten World

Researching the “Polenaktion” at the JDC Archives

Researching the “Polenaktion” at the JDC Archives

Piecing together a Puzzle with Newly Received Digital Collections

Piecing together a Puzzle with Newly Received Digital Collections

JDC Archives Receives Major Collection of Its Fugitive Postwar Prague Office Records

JDC Archives Receives Major Collection of Its Fugitive Postwar Prague Office Records

Alina Bothe Lectures on the Polenaktion: Deportation, Refugee Life and Jewish Solidarity

Alina Bothe Lectures on the Polenaktion: Deportation, Refugee Life and Jewish Solidarity

It Only Takes One Document

It Only Takes One Document

“Someone in the World Still Cared about Their Fate”

“Someone in the World Still Cared about Their Fate”

Global Screening of 2017 JDC Archives Documentary Film Grant Finalist

Global Screening of 2017 JDC Archives Documentary Film Grant Finalist

JDC Archives Invited to Cosponsor Workshop with POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews

JDC Archives Invited to Cosponsor Workshop with POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews

POLIN Museum showcases JDC Archives materials on March 1968

POLIN Museum showcases JDC Archives materials on March 1968

JDC Archives Director to Present at International Genealogy Conference

JDC Archives Director to Present at International Genealogy Conference

From Europe to the Farm

From Europe to the Farm

Joseph Benatov Lectures on the Fate of Bulgarian Jews during the Holocaust

Joseph Benatov Lectures on the Fate of Bulgarian Jews during the Holocaust

JDC Archives Showcased in Two Scholarly Publications

JDC Archives Showcased in Two Scholarly Publications

Naida Michal Brandl Lectures on Jewish Life in Croatia, 1945-1952

Naida Michal Brandl Lectures on Jewish Life in Croatia, 1945-1952

The JDC Archives Featured on “Finding Your Roots”

The JDC Archives Featured on “Finding Your Roots”

JDC Archives Establishes Collaborative Partnership with JRI-Poland

JDC Archives Establishes Collaborative Partnership with JRI-Poland

Polish Yiddish Theater Posters

Polish Yiddish Theater Posters

Badges of Honor

Badges of Honor

An Enduring Personal JDC Connection in Poland

An Enduring Personal JDC Connection in Poland

Genealogical Resources in the Records of JDC’s Warsaw Office, 1939-1941

Genealogical Resources in the Records of JDC’s Warsaw Office, 1939-1941

New Book on Jewish Refugees and JDC in Warsaw during the Holocaust

New Book on Jewish Refugees and JDC in Warsaw during the Holocaust

Glenn Dynner Lectures on JDC Aid to Traditionalist Jews in Interwar and Nazi-Occupied Poland

Glenn Dynner Lectures on JDC Aid to Traditionalist Jews in Interwar and Nazi-Occupied Poland

TIME Magazine features JDC Archives Warsaw Collection

TIME Magazine features JDC Archives Warsaw Collection

From a JDC Volunteer in Romania to a Historian of JDC Work in Poland

From a JDC Volunteer in Romania to a Historian of JDC Work in Poland

A Grandfather’s JDC Legacy

A Grandfather’s JDC Legacy

JDC Partners with Israel Genealogy Research Association

JDC Partners with Israel Genealogy Research Association

Exhibit 100 Years of “the Joint” in Poland Opens in California

Exhibit 100 Years of “the Joint” in Poland Opens in California

Anna Manchin Lectures on Jews, Communism, and Ethnicity in 1946 Hungary

Anna Manchin Lectures on Jews, Communism, and Ethnicity in 1946 Hungary

Rare JDC Archives Treasures Digitized

Rare JDC Archives Treasures Digitized

Miranda Carson Shares Her JDC Story

Miranda Carson Shares Her JDC Story

Citibank, a Mysterious Bank Account, and a Hunt in the Archives

Citibank, a Mysterious Bank Account, and a Hunt in the Archives

Harry Kamel: A Story of Gratitude

Harry Kamel: A Story of Gratitude

Galicia Jewish Museum in Poland Showcases JDC Archival Photos in Upcoming Exhibit

Galicia Jewish Museum in Poland Showcases JDC Archival Photos in Upcoming Exhibit

Israeli Researcher Explores Post-World War II Jewish Community in Poland, as Assisted by JDC

Israeli Researcher Explores Post-World War II Jewish Community in Poland, as Assisted by JDC

New Jewish Museums in Russia and Poland Showcase JDC Archival Photos

New Jewish Museums in Russia and Poland Showcase JDC Archival Photos

Insight into Moses Beckelman: Neither Pencil-Pusher Nor Pushover

Insight into Moses Beckelman: Neither Pencil-Pusher Nor Pushover

Joan Finkelstein Shares Her JDC Story

Joan Finkelstein Shares Her JDC Story

Polish Jewish Expellees from Germany (1938-1939) Receiving JDC Aid

Polish Jewish Expellees from Germany (1938-1939) Receiving JDC Aid

Yom HaShoah and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Yom HaShoah and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

A White Plains Bar Mitzvah Boy Reads From a 200-Year-Old Belgrade Torah

A White Plains Bar Mitzvah Boy Reads From a 200-Year-Old Belgrade Torah

Hungarian Refugee Cards, 1956-1957, Now Available in JDC Names Index

Hungarian Refugee Cards, 1956-1957, Now Available in JDC Names Index

Congressional Gold Medal to Raoul Wallenberg

Congressional Gold Medal to Raoul Wallenberg

Refuge in Jamaica

Refuge in Jamaica